Suns vs. Hawks Top Picks for Thursday: Suns Non-Competitive While Lacking Healthy Scorers
Best Bet: Hawks -7 at -108 with Heritage
Phoenix Suns vs. Atlanta Hawks
Thursday, February 9, 2023 at 7:30 p.m. ET at State Farm Arena in Atlanta
Major Trade
This game might seem tricky to bet on because of the major trade that Phoenix's front office has just pulled off.
The Suns are shipping off multiple important players and draft picks to Brooklyn in return for currently injured star Kevin Durant plus forward TJ Warren.
The players that Phoenix is giving up are forwards Mikal Bridges, Cam Johnson, and Jae Crowder.
Key Losses
While Crowder hasn't played this season, both Bridges and Johnson contributed important minutes.
Bridges actually averaged the most minutes per game on the Suns, and Johnson was a consistent starter.
While Bridges scored the third-most points per game on the team, Johnson scored the fourth-most.
Both players were also highly valuable for their defense.
Last year, Bridges finished second in voting for Defensive Player of the Year.
Johnson's annually excellent defensive ratings attest to his quality.
This game might seem tricky to bet on because Phoenix has, in terms of personnel, suddenly become a rather new team.
With newer personnel, we have to exercise caution before relying on season-long Sun stats to which players no longer on the roster contributed significantly.
Missing Devin Booker
Phoenix would love to be able to lean on star scorer Devin Booker.
He is easily his team's leading scorer and shot-taker.
.
Plus, the attention that he attracts from defenses makes it easier for teammates of his to get more involved on offense, whoever they might be.
However, Booker has been ruled 'out' for tonight's contest so that he may rest and manage his left groin injury.
Now, what is unsurprising given Booker's centrality is that Phoenix struggled to win games with Booker not in the lineup.
It took a long time for this tendency to lose without Booker to change.
What the Suns did was rely extra heavily on Mikal Bridges and Deandre Ayton.
But Bridges is unavailable because he now is a Net. His absence helps point to the lack of scoring talent that Phoenix can employ tonight.
Deandre Ayton's Outlook
With Booker sidelined and Bridges on another team, Ayton will be Phoenix's most important player tonight.
But he'll encounter the strong rim protection and top-level rebounding prowess of Hawk center Clint Capela, who is well-known as an effective defensive anchor.
Even extending to the time when Capela was a Rocket -- Ayton faced Capela once as a Rocket -- Ayton's matchup history against Capela is awful.
Ayton did score 20 points once, as part of a 32-point Sun defeat.
In the other four games against Capela's Rockets or Hawks, Ayton failed to reach double digits twice and his Suns suffered defeat in three of those games.
Overall, in their matchups against each other, Ayton and Capela average the same number of points, and Capela averages one rebound more.
Given his negative history against them, the Hawks are just the group to frustrate Ayton even when he's surrounded by more talent and depth than he will be tonight.
No-Names
Phoenix will have to have low-profile scorers assume extra responsibility tonight.
On its depth chart, for example, small forward Torrey Crag is listed as the starter at small forward, although the former South Carolina Upstate player averages all of six points per game.
Even more uncertainty exists on the team's bench.
Missing Top Wing Defenders
The fact that Phoenix misses multiple guys all of a sudden and now has to piece together unlikely lineups will impair their chemistry on defense, the lack of which will be especially evident in Atlanta's Trae Young-led ball-screen game because it takes chemistry -- coordination and communication -- to defend against ball screens.
In terms of individual quality, the departure of their top wing defenders entails that combo guard Dejounte Murray is primed to thrive for Atlanta.
Shooting guard Bogdan Bogdanovic is also primed to thrive on the perimeter now that the shooting stud has finally been starting to look like himself.
Whereas Phoenix misses its top scorers tonight and will get disappointingly little from Ayton, Atlanta will be able to lean on its key scorers while relying on a level of depth that Phoenix will envy given its sudden departures and the inability of Warren -- he, too, is listed as 'out' -- and Durant to play now.
The Verdict
The odds have shifted six points, as of Thursday morning, in Atlanta's favor for good reason.
Atlanta has the star personnel, the depth, and the chemistry that Phoenix lacks.
Today is a great spot for the Hawks to overcome their two-game losing streak.
Also expect a lower-scoring game in view of Phoenix's lack of scoring talent.
Best Bet: Under 228.5 at -110 with BetOnline
Best Bet: Hawks -7 at -108 with Heritage
Phoenix Suns vs. Atlanta Hawks
Thursday, February 9, 2023 at 7:30 p.m. ET at State Farm Arena in Atlanta
Major Trade
This game might seem tricky to bet on because of the major trade that Phoenix's front office has just pulled off.
The Suns are shipping off multiple important players and draft picks to Brooklyn in return for currently injured star Kevin Durant plus forward TJ Warren.
The players that Phoenix is giving up are forwards Mikal Bridges, Cam Johnson, and Jae Crowder.
Key Losses
While Crowder hasn't played this season, both Bridges and Johnson contributed important minutes.
Bridges actually averaged the most minutes per game on the Suns, and Johnson was a consistent starter.
While Bridges scored the third-most points per game on the team, Johnson scored the fourth-most.
Both players were also highly valuable for their defense.
Last year, Bridges finished second in voting for Defensive Player of the Year.
Johnson's annually excellent defensive ratings attest to his quality.
This game might seem tricky to bet on because Phoenix has, in terms of personnel, suddenly become a rather new team.
With newer personnel, we have to exercise caution before relying on season-long Sun stats to which players no longer on the roster contributed significantly.
Missing Devin Booker
Phoenix would love to be able to lean on star scorer Devin Booker.
He is easily his team's leading scorer and shot-taker.
.
Plus, the attention that he attracts from defenses makes it easier for teammates of his to get more involved on offense, whoever they might be.
However, Booker has been ruled 'out' for tonight's contest so that he may rest and manage his left groin injury.
Now, what is unsurprising given Booker's centrality is that Phoenix struggled to win games with Booker not in the lineup.
It took a long time for this tendency to lose without Booker to change.
What the Suns did was rely extra heavily on Mikal Bridges and Deandre Ayton.
But Bridges is unavailable because he now is a Net. His absence helps point to the lack of scoring talent that Phoenix can employ tonight.
Deandre Ayton's Outlook
With Booker sidelined and Bridges on another team, Ayton will be Phoenix's most important player tonight.
But he'll encounter the strong rim protection and top-level rebounding prowess of Hawk center Clint Capela, who is well-known as an effective defensive anchor.
Even extending to the time when Capela was a Rocket -- Ayton faced Capela once as a Rocket -- Ayton's matchup history against Capela is awful.
Ayton did score 20 points once, as part of a 32-point Sun defeat.
In the other four games against Capela's Rockets or Hawks, Ayton failed to reach double digits twice and his Suns suffered defeat in three of those games.
Overall, in their matchups against each other, Ayton and Capela average the same number of points, and Capela averages one rebound more.
Given his negative history against them, the Hawks are just the group to frustrate Ayton even when he's surrounded by more talent and depth than he will be tonight.
No-Names
Phoenix will have to have low-profile scorers assume extra responsibility tonight.
On its depth chart, for example, small forward Torrey Crag is listed as the starter at small forward, although the former South Carolina Upstate player averages all of six points per game.
Even more uncertainty exists on the team's bench.
Missing Top Wing Defenders
The fact that Phoenix misses multiple guys all of a sudden and now has to piece together unlikely lineups will impair their chemistry on defense, the lack of which will be especially evident in Atlanta's Trae Young-led ball-screen game because it takes chemistry -- coordination and communication -- to defend against ball screens.
In terms of individual quality, the departure of their top wing defenders entails that combo guard Dejounte Murray is primed to thrive for Atlanta.
Shooting guard Bogdan Bogdanovic is also primed to thrive on the perimeter now that the shooting stud has finally been starting to look like himself.
Whereas Phoenix misses its top scorers tonight and will get disappointingly little from Ayton, Atlanta will be able to lean on its key scorers while relying on a level of depth that Phoenix will envy given its sudden departures and the inability of Warren -- he, too, is listed as 'out' -- and Durant to play now.
The Verdict
The odds have shifted six points, as of Thursday morning, in Atlanta's favor for good reason.
Atlanta has the star personnel, the depth, and the chemistry that Phoenix lacks.
Today is a great spot for the Hawks to overcome their two-game losing streak.
Also expect a lower-scoring game in view of Phoenix's lack of scoring talent.
Best Bet: Under 228.5 at -110 with BetOnline
